Abortion providers deliver final arguments against tough new law

Published 1:39 pm, Wednesday, August 13, 2014

AUSTIN – Abortion providers delivered their final arguments against Texas' stringent new regulations Wednesday morning, telling a federal judge the law imposes a severe financial burden on providers with no corresponding benefit for the state.

A lawyer for a coalition of providers asked the judge to block the Sept. 1 implementation of a provision requiring abortion facilities to comply with the standards of ambulatory surgical centers. The requirement "essentially amounts to a $3 million tax" that would cause a dozen clinics to close and force thousands of Texans to travel hundreds of miles to obtain the procedure, said the attorney, Stephanie Toti of the New York-based Center for Reproductive Rights.

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"The overwhelming weight of the evidence presented at trial this week demonstrates that the ambulatory surgical center requirement in Texas House Bill 2 provides no medical benefit to abortions and will result in the elimination of abortion services in most of the state of Texas," Toti said.

U.S. District Judge Lee Yeakel seemed to signal that he agreed, interrupting several times with comments that built on Toti's arguments. After comparing an abortion to a sprained ankle, he said, "I have a problem with believing it is reasonable to drive 150 miles for medical care when you can get it closer."

Yeakel struck down a separate provision of House Bill 2 last fall only to see his decision unanimously reversed by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.

State lawyers based their defense of the law on that case, repeatedly arguing that points made by providers had already been rejected by the appellate court.

"The plaintiffs as best we can tell would like the court to ignore the 5th Circuit's decision and issue a decision that will be overturned," Solicitor General Jonathan Mitchell said.

Mitchell did not provide any evidence of the medical necessity of the requirements, saying the basis for the law had already been upheld.

But the solicitor general argued the providers had not presented any direct evidence that anyone had been unable to get an abortion because of the law, or that clinics that might open in the future would be unable to comply comply with the requirements.

Fewer than 10 of the abortion facilities in Texas can meet ambulatory surgical center standards, and the rest are expected to close by Sept. 1.

About 40 clinics were in operation before the passage of House Bill 2. Roughly half of them have closed due to another requirement in the law, that abortion doctors have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital.

The providers also are asking Yeakel to exempt the Lower Rio Grande Valley and El Paso area from the admitting privileges requirement.

The judge is expected to rule by Sept. 1, with an appeal to the 5th Circuit likely to follow almost immediately.